


Tech Support

by AJofthe



Category: Leverage, The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28969890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJofthe/pseuds/AJofthe
Summary: Hardison's old friends come for a visit.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 35
Kudos: 243





	Tech Support

It's not everyday that two men walk into the bar and Hardison almost trips over himself rushing to hug them. He's been nervous all day and Parker is glad that part is over.

Parker also can understand why he wants to hug them. They’re both extremely attractive. The dark haired one has the kind of muscles that come from a lot of hand-to-hand combat and some calluses on his hand that suggest a primary non-gun weapon although not the multiple knives he has about his person. The blonde one has the same muscle development, two knives in obvious places, and a handgun holstered under his left arm. And sniper calluses.

Eliot looks up from the bar and Parker wants to laugh at the mix of concern, jealousy, and heat that his gaze takes on. She thought he had noticed Hardison’s nerves, but maybe he had been distracted by the new sous chef's technique when Hardison had said he had old friends visiting today. 

"It did not seem like something we should discuss over the video," the blonde is saying in a soft accent as Hardison brings them over to Parker and their table.

"And it's a few requests at once, with some depending on what happens with the others," the darker haired man says and gives Parker a smile. "You must be Parker."

Parker nods and Hardison introduces Yusef and Nicolo. And then doesn't signal her to leave so she stays and the two men settle into chairs beside her, Nicolo settling against Yusef's side in a way that is clearly meant to telegraph to Eliot that they are both very taken.

Yusef's ring is on the wrong hand and Nicolo doesn’t wear one, but the way they breathe each other's movements made the relationship clear to her. Parker does appreciate that they're putting Eliot's mind at ease though.

"We have a new tech guy for the broader team," Yusef continues, arm slipping around Nicolo. "He's ex-CIA and we don't trust him.”

"We don't not trust him," Nicolo interjects.

Yusef reluctantly nods and there's something dark and not very nice in his eyes. Parker wonders what the new guy did.

Yusef continues. "We're certainly not trusting him with everything and we felt like we needed to check in with you about what we should and shouldn't say about the properties you're managing. And see if someone you know could keep an eye on him."

Hardison's eyes narrowed. "I can keep an eye on him," he says and when they look ready to protest, holds up his hand. "I'm not 14 anymore, you know. And I'm actually really good at the "tech" stuff." The air quotes do not make him look older. 

Nicolo huffs slightly. "We know that, but we do not want you taking any unnecessary risks."

"Ok, I like them. Whoever they are," Eliot says, setting waters on the table for their guests and an orange soda for Hardison. He has a bowl of fries for Parker and she digs in.

Both men are grinning at him. "So this is Eliot," says Yusef with a grin and Parker's now very curious what Hardison's told them because why didn't she get that reaction?

Nicolo glances at her and gives a fond smile. "He did not ask us for sex advice for you," he says bluntly and Parker nods since that makes sense and is amused as both Hardison and Eliot turn red.

"Ok, as you can see, yes, I have two very blunt gay uncles and I had some questions and I knew they'd answer them honestly," Hardison says to Eliot, who had recovered enough to smack him, and settle the menu on the table.

"If you need me or food, just wave," he says and start to stomp to the kitchen when Hardsion grabs his hand and pulls him back and into the extra chair.

"This is Yusef and Nicolo. They dragged my 14 year-old ass out of a shitshow of a situation that somehow intersected with one of their missions. And now I e-manage their real estate because they're special ops and don't usually have time for it." Hardison's tone suggests that the shitshow was really, really bad and Parker reaches over to catch his hand, knowing Eliot's doing the same, and looks at the men with new eyes. They are that indeterminate age of somewhere between 27 and 45 and must be on the older side of that since Hardison's almost twice the age he was when they met.

"And we don't really get computers," Yusef adds, with another smile, clearly quoting Hardison. Hardison gives him a sarcastic look and Nicolo laughs.

"We are too old for them," he says and meets Hardison's eyes. "We do know enough that poking around on our new tech guy is risky. And we do not wish to put you at risk."

Parker shakes her head. "He won't be at risk. He really is that good," she volunteers and both men consider her.

"He really is," Eliot says and apparently that's enough for them. They look at each other and say a few things in a language that isn't quite Arabic before looking back at Hardison.

"We would appreciate then if you could monitor him," Yusef says. "We can give you all the details on that and we need to discuss the rest of the real estate.” 

"But, first, the famous cooking we have been told about," Nicolo says, grabbing the menu and making a pleased sound about the pho. 

"When you said CIA, you really meant way up in the CIA." Hardison sounded surprised.

They had eaten and then retreated to the office loft so Hardison could start on his checking. And so Nicolo and Eliot could continue to bond over the contents of the liquor cabinet up there. They had gotten into a very serious debate about balsamic vinegar over dinner. It was adorable. 

Hardison had files up on the screen and when Yusef and Parker looked at him, he elaborated. "This guy was going to be the next agency research head, as far as I can tell. He's good, mostly because he knows where and how to look for everything. He's on my list of people to not draw the attention of."

Yusef's smile was strained. "That is a good plan."

"A very good plan," Nicolo says from across the room, where Eliot has lined up at least six amaros for them to taste.

Hardison was flipping through more files. "He went contract when his wife was dying of ALS. They moved to London to be closer to her parents. No kids, but he wanted to be there with her. Still does the occasional project for CIA, MI6, various other groups. Seems very white hat."

"That means he's a good guy," Parker translated and Yusef thanked her.

"Not good enough at security though," Hardison added and a whole other set of files pulled up.

Yusef and Nicolo exchanged a look.

"What would he call you guys?" Hardison asked, mouse hovering over the list of files. Yusef was reading them and Nicolo approached, sipping his amaro. They're both nervous.

"Probably the Old Guard?" Yusef guesses after a moment with a dry laugh and Parker doesn't understand the joke. "He spent a lot of the past year researching our team and all the missions we've been on that he could find. But we're mostly concerned about his communications with other people about us and not that."

Hardison nods and pulls up an email account instead. Both men mummer appreciatively.

"Belarus is a go," Yusef muses as they skim down the list, clearly picking that up from one name or another. Nicolo curses a moment later in Italian and shoots a glare at Yusef.

"Can you open the one from the Uffizi?" Yusef reluctantly asks and it's from the Department of Prints and Drawings and it's confirmation that a particular document has been digitized in high definition. Hardison opens it and it's a drawing of a male nude, from the back. It's rather graphic, the man's legs parted in a very exposed and suggestive way and there are sketches scattered around the main drawing, close-ups of hands intertwined and other, much more graphic body parts. And acts. Parker turns her head to get a better angle on one. 

Nicolo shoots Yusef a positively irate look.

"Stealing presents is so complicated." Parker complains and Yusef glances at her for a moment and then gives a delightfully sheepish grin.

"It's actually one of mine. I just drew it on paper from 1489," he admits. "We were a little distracted and I wasn’t paying attention to what I was using. Misplaced it one day and the next thing you know, it's in a museum."

Parker immediately looks at Nicolo, who is slightly pink and clearly still annoyed. Eliot and Hardison are very pointedly not looking at him.

Hardison closes the scan and looks at Yusef. "How did he know it was one of yours?" He demands and Yusef's eyes narrow.

"He could have accessed a few of my sketchbooks," he says after a moment. "I would have never thought that he would have bothered."

Nicolo has gone from pink to green and seems to have forgiven Yusef for accidentally getting porn of him into a museum at the thought that the sketchbooks had been touched. 

“You store most of them in the place near Sevona, yes?” He asked and Yusef nodded. Hardison immediately pulls up some geolocation information. 

“Well, Copley hasn’t been anywhere within five hours of that house in the past twenty years, except for Rome and Lyon on plane transfers, if we can rely on his cell phone location data,” he says after a moment and Yusef and Nicolo relax. 

“We have never told him of it, although Andy and Booker are both aware of it. I think we brought Andy on a visit a few years ago.” Nicolo looked as if he was digging deep into his memory. 

Yusef’s mind had gone down a different track. “I have left recent sketchbooks in our house in Mendoza and the apartment in Hong Kong,” he says and Hardison immediately tracks those down. Either are a possibility from the cellphone data and then complementary data from the Chinese government actually has Copley in the Hong Kong apartment. Nicolo and Yusef look at each other. 

Parker imagines what it would be like to know that someone she didn’t trust was in one of her safe houses. She immediately turns to Hardison. 

“You should keep track of everywhere he goes from now on,” she orders and Hardison is already nodding. 

“On it, Mama. He’s in his house in London right now, but he’s been to Islamabad and Montreal recently.” 

“He met us in Islamabad,” Nicolo says. “After a job. We were using one of Andy’s places. We should give you a list of those once we check with Andy.” 

Yusef nods. “Has he put in any other requests to museums?” He sounds almost reluctant to ask, but Hardison nods and pulls up the email account again. 

“How big was the stack of old paper?” Eliot asks, coming over with another amaro for Nicolo and a tray of drinks for the rest of them. Yusef looks pained as he takes what Parker thinks is a non-alcoholic lemongrass fizz that Eliot has made for her before. He’s made her the strawberry and lemon one that’s even better. 

“It was your average stack, but we were off for a month and we found this new lube,” Yusef says without any shame and Nicolo sighs. 

“And I am not always the most careful when it comes to liberating things, especially historical things, from the people we deal with. So he may still be collecting information from prior jobs,” he says and looks a little put out, but also defiant. Eliot clinks their glasses together and Yusef pulls him down onto the sofa.

Eliot settles next to Parker and the research continues. 

It’s almost midnight when Yusef starts to yawn and Nicolo quickly wraps an arm around his waist and insists that they return to the AirBnb that Hardison arranged for them. 

Hardison fusses about them stay, but then escorts them out and Eliot and Parker know enough to leave Hardison to continue his research and go to bed. 

Around 3am, Hardison gapes at his computer. Then he watches a video and he just can’t process. 

An hour later, he stumbles into bed and Parker curls around him and he imagines and he wraps her up in his arms for a minute to make sure she’s still there. “We’re still here,” Eliot mutters, snuggling up against his back and Hardison doesn’t laugh hysterically, but he wonders if what he’s found explains something about Eliot. 

They registered for a yoga class so Hardison waits outside with coffee, chai, and donuts. 

Yusef sees him first and his eyes are questioning and then resigned. 

Then they're back at the Airbnb, sitting at the table by the bay window that looks just as cute in person as online. Nicole insists he eat some donut before they talk and Yusef takes away his coffee and makes tea and, for once, Hardison doesn’t feel like a little kid being taken care of. 

Finally, they sit and they look at him with the same sympathetic eyes that he’d looked into as a scared and naked 14 year old. "Those guys you saved me from back in Chicago took some pictures. And the feds got them and had them until I deleted them. I was worried Copley had them too," Hardison begins and Nicolo puts a hand on his arm. Yusef curses in Arabic, his eyes worried. “He didn’t,” Hardison assures them. “I think I’ve deleted them from everywhere.” 

"But you found all the rest of his research," Nicolo prompts. Hardison nods and tries to figure out how to explain that none of it made any sense and then he’d seen the fucking snuff film that Copley had trapped them into and that so much of the random shit that they’d both said and done made way more sense now.

Instead, he says. "I get why you didn't tell me and I won't ever tell anyone. And I don't have to go digging. But I was up most of the night and I think he’s just trying to track down things with obvious connections. He’s definitely got an algorithm based on one of your sketchbooks that he’s using to check the databases of every art museum and he’s getting a few hits, but I doubt there’s any way to confirm without your personal verification. Although two of them are of Andy, I think?” 

Yusef looks torn and Nicole catches his hand. “You cannot stop doing what you love just because it is a risk,” he says and Yusef intertwines their fingers to raise them to his lips. 

“So, if it’s ok with you, beyond keeping an eye on him, I can start some basic programs to make sure you have identities and a lot of them,” Hardison says. “And I’m thinking through some other things that will help. Like a management company for the properties that can last beyond my lifetime." They both turn to stare at him. He grins. "Y'all, this is one thing I'm really, really good at now." 

“Could you find someone in a coffin at the bottom of the ocean?” Yusef asks after a moment and Hardison has to adjust his thinking to that reality and shoves aside his horror and thinks about it for a while and nods. 

“I mean, we can hire someone. And I can come up with a pretty good search algorithm for some drones.” 

“You have your own life, anything you do for us cannot be too much,” Nicolo says, serious from his centuries of experience, and Hardison grins. 

“Nah, I’m just giving you guys a bit more leverage,” he says.


End file.
